William s



W. S.. PRATT.

FABRIC PoR UNDERLAYING GARPETS.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM S. PRATT, OF BROOKLYN, NEV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO J. S. C. THURSBY,OF SAME PLACE.

FABRIC FOR UNDERLAYING CARPE'IS.

Specification of Lettersllatent No. 16,036, dated November l, 1856.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, VILLIAM S. PRATT, of theeastern district of the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings andState of New York, have invented a new and useful Fabric for UnderlayingCarpets on Floors for t-he Purpose of Extracting and Collecting the DustTherefrom; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear,and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, in whicl A Figure l, is a face view of a piece ofthe fabric, and Fig. 2 is a section of the same showing it applied to afloor under a piece of carpet.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in bothfigures.

The fabric which constitutes the subject of this invention consists ofstout paper or paper-board made cellular by perforating it thickly allover. IVhen this fabric is laid between a carpet and a floor, the dustwhich is always driven in greater or less quant-ities toward and throughthe under surface of the carpet by the act of sweeping, will be forcedinto and retained by the cells in the fabric, leaving the carpet muchcleaner than if placed on the bare floor, or with suoli materials as aregenerally used, interposed be tween it and the floor, thus obviating thenecessity of so frequently taking up the carpet to beat or shake it, thecarpet underlaid with this fabric never requiring to be taken up tillthe cells become filled up with dust, and also preventing its beautybeing so quickly impaired, and making it wear longer.

a, a, represents the body of the fabric; b, Z), the holes or cells; c,c, the face of the iioor; and el, el, the carpet.

The fabric may be made of rope-makers waste or of any of the materialscommonly used as stock for coarse paper or mill-board. It may be made bythe ordinary process employed for manufacturing paper or millboard andmay be perforated to form its cells by any suitable machinery. Ipro-pose to make it of a thickness from about one sixteenth, (e116), ofan inch upward, and to make the perforations to form the cells of aboutfrom one eighth to three sixteenths (g) of an inch in width or diameter,either circular or of other convenient form, and as close together as isconsistent with a proper degree of tenacity, so as to obtain as great anumber of cells as possible and to have the cells of such capacity as tocontain each a considerable quantity of dust. The fabric may be laiddown in sheets of convenient size, or in strips the whole length of aroom.

By impregnating the paper with some suitable odorous or other substance,moth may be effectually excluded from the carpet.

What I claim as my invent-ion, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is,

The within described cellular paper or paper-board for the purpose ofunderlaying carpets on floors.

WILLIAM S. PRATT.

Witnesses:

7WM. TUsor-r, JAMES F. BUCKLEY.

